


just say the word

by persephonea



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Intimacy, Leader and his Right Hand Man, M/M, Post Season 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-15
Updated: 2017-09-15
Packaged: 2018-12-30 03:36:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12099846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/persephonea/pseuds/persephonea
Summary: “You know, if you wanted me to strip off your clothes, all you had to do was ask.” Lance felt his face grew hotter, positive he was red again. He should probably be used to it by now.“I swear I didn’t do it on purpose.”“Pity. That would have been one of your brighter moments.” Lance couldn’t help but let out a short laugh at that, shoving at Keith’s shoulder half-heartedly.“You jerk.”I like you.-It's been a few months since Lance's blue world got stained red and things were changing.





	just say the word

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, Beth here. So I've been meaning to somewhat write down my feelings after season 3 and hopefully before the release of s4 because these boys on their way to co-leadership positively destroyed me. Then I got around to listening to [Take On The World by You Me At Six](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQersKykXok) and the lyrics promptly compelled me to write this one-shot. Hope you like it!
> 
> Also, a big thanks to @saecchii for beta-ing this, you're my hero. ♡

The world was burning. It looked as if the sky had gotten ripped in half and then the fire had swallowed it whole. Lance presumed one could find something poetic about it if the one searching would be able to look through with untainted eyes. With naivety that only clings to you until you kill your first enemy in cold blood and his surprised gasp starts haunting you in your dreams. All Lance could see was chaos and destruction claiming the plains right in front of him.

The Galra were victorious once again and Lance wasn’t able to look away from the hordes of soldiers pouring from the battleships, covering the surface like a relentless disease, polluting what was once a hopeful world, its dreams standing sound. Now, it was a broken place with no future and on the verge of dying. They could not save it this time and Lance’s heart was twisting in on itself in his chest at the sight. In days like these, when everything seemed pointless and the ending to their story unclear, Lance had to fight ten times harder to remember that what they did had meaning and the progress overcame their failures. He was just so tired. Tired of trying and losing and never doing enough for it to matter.

He felt a warm weight on his shoulder that shook him out of his thoughts and looked up to see Keith already staring back at him. God, it was so good to be reminded he wasn’t alone. The hand on him tightened and gave him a little squeeze, Keith’s eyes turning back to the pure havoc below.

“We need to go, Lance.” Lance took a deep breath and felt it burning in his nostrils as his lungs filled with smoke. A cough found its way out of his throat and Keith’s arm wrapped all the way around his back. Yeah, they needed to go. There was nothing that could be done now.

There was a moment when his body forgot how to move, feet firmly planted on the ground and then he let Keith dragged him away from the edge of the cliff.

-

 

He found himself following Keith, like he did quite a lot these days. After stripping off their armor in the hangar, Keith took Lance’s hand again, like he had never let go and he led them to Lance’s room without any further prompting.

Only when they were safely behind the closed door did Keith turned back to look at him, his eyes deep and still. Lance welcomed the familiar clarity that came with being in the center of attention of a wild force that was the red paladin. _Black_ , he corrected himself in his thoughts. It was supposed to be black now. He was grounded and the pull of the thread leading from the bottom of his belly wasn’t forced by gravity but its end was safely placed in Keith’s hands. It made Lance remember they were still connected, the point of contact suddenly nothing short of two tectonic plates crashing together.

They did that a lot, too. Kept crashing into each other like it was the only way they could stay standing. He guessed falling was easier if you had someone to lean onto - you could support each other’s weight and the repercussions could avoid being fatal.

If someone told him a year ago that it would be Keith to whom Lance would willingly bare all of his ugly parts and insecurities, that they would share them in a space of intimate friendship and Keith would get to know Lance as no one else did, he would probably have laughed right in their face. But somehow, it became inevitable that they would learn one another, grow into each other and intertwine in the end as if they were meant to from the very beginning. They were still learning and Lance never ceased to be amazed that Keith wanted to know him, wanted to know his mind, as desperately as he did his.

_You were holding my hand this whole time_ , Lance wanted to say, but it would be like pointing out something obvious, like the way his heart was going to jump out of his chest at each flutter of Keith’s lashes, only two feet distance between them. The fact was it didn’t matter anyway. It didn’t matter because Keith’s eyes were still not leaving his face and despite self-combusting on the inside, Lance was back at Varadero, warm current washing over his feet, undeniably safe.

“We couldn’t save them, Lance.” Lance felt known as Keith moved to put his hands on his shoulders, his leader finding comfort in him just like Lance did in the body pressed up against him almost too close. He nodded his head.

“I just… I just wish we could… God, it’s so unfair,” he pushed down a half formed sob that was threatening to come out. He felt a soft touch to his chin, lifting it up and sliding all the way up to his cheekbones to curl up in the hair at the back of his neck.

“I know.” Keith’s resolute gaze carried the weight of mutual understanding and frustration of being helpless, stranded in the wind of a much bigger scheme of things than two soldiers who were trying to figure out how to live with their nightmares.

Lance leaned into him and breathed in the weirdly calming scent of sweat and something distinctly Keith, feeling his lungs expand, trying to get in more of it, always more.

“Do you want me to stay with you for a while? We need to get back and do a quick wrap-up, then see where we’ll go from here.” Lance gave him a small nod as Keith gently pushed him away, in the direction of the bathroom. “Alright, first go change and then we can rest for a bit.”

He smiled and Lance felt all the excess adrenaline from the battle left his body, he was weak in his knees and light in his head. He surrendered to that little soothing tilt of lips and caring eyes. He wanted nothing else than to always be swept up in that intentness and he couldn’t remember the time when he wasn’t feeling the constant need to be enwrapped in Keith’s fragile hurricane.

He realized there was no reason for him not to be. Lance stopped dead in his tracks. No reason to float on the periphery of the storm for any longer. He turned so that he faced the bathroom door and Keith had a view of his back but made no more steps towards it. He lifted his arms and moved them to touch the upper part of his shoulder blades. He looked over his shoulder, an eyebrow raised with a purpose. Okay, he was doing this.

“What are you doing?” Keith looked at him, head tilting with curiosity more than in alarm, elegant arch of his brows furrowed in question, fingers twitching and then curling into fists along his sides. Lance felt hot all over.

“What does it look like? I’m changing.” He tried to force the air of confidence into his voice and his movements but the reality was that his hands were slightly shaking and the words ended up toeing just the verge of frailty.

“Oh. Okay,” Keith punched out of him. It was barely audible but uttered with a mark of finality. It wasn’t like either of them wanted to go back or had anywhere to go back to, they were heading down this road for a while now, fully aware of where it would lead them. Still, Lance had never felt more terrified than in that moment, not even when he was standing on the other side of the Galra’s barrel, stuck for just bare milliseconds between a bullet and staying alive. He had also never felt braver.

His skin tingled with the knowledge of Keith’s eyes being glued to the movement of his hand. For once, their roles had changed - he was the one following Lance.

His fingers found the zipper of the suit at the nape of his neck and pulled. It didn’t budge. Lance’s blood froze for a second before it came rushing back to his head, making it beat and echo in his ears. He tugged again but the metal teeth were firmly clamped together. Oh god, he meant to be suggestive but this was quickly turning into a disaster train rolling at its top speed.

He knew before he felt it, the warm presence of a body behind him. Hands pushed his out of the way and settled on his shoulders.

“Here, let me.” Keith yanked on the zipper hard and as it gave in, he pulled it down in one sharp motion. Hot breath fanned over Lance’s exposed back. He felt a shiver run up his spine and settle in the center of his shoulder blades in a tense scorching heat that was bound to burn him alive.

“Thanks.” The tension in the room was strung so high and Lance’s heart was beating so fast he thought he would burst. There was something murmured in a frustrated tone behind him and then two arms enveloped him in a tight hug, body fitting snug against him and Keith’s hair cascaded in a tickling sensation over his neck.

“Lance.” He could tell Keith felt his body was all tensed up, muscles rigid in his embrace. There was an outline of a smile pressed into his skin.

“Could you relax and stop trying to overthink this, please?” Lance let out a nervous chuckle.

“You’re making it kind of hard to loosen up, wonder boy, when I think my heart’s gonna explode.”

Keith puffed out an amused sound at that and Lance’s oversensitive body registred the slightest hint of teeth. And as he felt a consequent touch of warm lips, Lance let himself go and melted into it.

“Keith…” The other boy kept his lips firmly pressed to the same place for a few seconds while Lance let the excitement at the realization of what was finally, inevitably happening fill him up and prickle at the tips of his fingers. It was exhilarating. _Keith_ was exhilarating.

The mouth moved up a few inches, then down, and right, and left, leaving small scorching marks in its wake. Keith was a knife that bored again and again bleeding walls of his chest. Except the wounds weren’t hurting and his blood was singing. Lance needed to touch him.

He turned around in Keith’s arms, the need to get closer to the boy stronger than anything he ever felt. Stronger even than the fervour with which he flew Red - flying with Keith was when he had no control yet he didn’t mourn its loss.

He was met with Keith’s eyes and the look in them punched the last of his breath out of his lungs. Keith burned and Lance could almost hear the fire crackling. Then the roof gave way.

Keith grabbed Lance by the collar of his bodysuit and Lance’s hands went to grip at Keith’s hips, their lips clumsily crashed together and they were kissing.

First, Lance just pressed his mouth against Keith’s, not really sure of what to do until Keith started moving and they were stealing longer and longer lasting pecks, slotting their mouths against each other in delicious angles. It was wet and Lance was still trying to figure out how to move but it was Keith who was kissing him, and it was definitely starting to feel _really_ good when there was a tentative touch of a tongue on his bottom lip. Lance opened up with a soft gasp. His eyes blinked open for a second but the image of Keith with his delicate eyebrows furrowed in concentration, pink dusting his cheekbones, was too much for his overwhelmed senses to handle. He pushed back against him and soon their tongues were moving together, unpracticed but determined.

Lance moved his hand up to tug at Keith’s hair because he needed something to hold onto. He felt like he was falling, fast and hard, with nothing to back him up. His other hand went to rest on his lower back and as he pressed down to pull the boy closer, Keith moaned into his mouth.

It was all a blur from there. He pushed at Keith and pushed, until the back of his knees collided with the bed frame, Keith lost his balance and Lance fell right on top of him. Not for a moment did they stop kissing. Lance settled his weight on Keith’s thighs and trying to deepen the kiss even more, licked with ardour at the roof of his mouth and gasped as Keith’s hands slid over the exposed expanse of his back and touched the bare skin.

Keith arched up into him, Lance shifted a little further and suddenly he was positioned right above Keith’s crotch as the boy pulled him down. Lance couldn’t help it but groan at the sudden pressure and move against him to try and get more friction. He was so hot he was certain there had to be steam coming out of the pores on his body. Keith started to involuntarily buck up into him, fingers digging into his back and their movements growing desperate and erratic. Lance knew in the back of his mind this was going too fast but his body didn’t seem to get the message.

“Lance. _Lance_.” Keith gripped at his hips, trying to still them. He had his bottom lip caught in his teeth, biting at it, hair all messed up and eyes hazy. Lance let out a shaky breath but Keith didn’t pull away and he lowered himself on his forearms so they were framing Keith’s face and pecked the forehead under his bangs while convincing his heart to stop beating so damn fast.

“Yeah, slow down, I get it.” Keith snorted and went right back to kissing him, this time a little bit more gently, trying to tone down the broiling need that was still set deep in their bones.

They just rocked together for a few moments, holding onto each other and panted into each other’s mouths. He knew he was shaking, but Keith was shaking too. _Always one pebble away from creating a tsunami._

Lance slowly pushed himself off Keith, landing on his back next to him. They lay like that for a few moments, breathing hard and staring at the ceiling until eventually their breathing evened out and Lance was able to think past the staggering feeling of Keith’s eager hands on his skin. After he got at least some kind of resemblance of a grip on his thoughts, he slung one leg over Keith’s and turned on his side only to be completely swept away at the sight of the other boy, lying there with the happiest smile Lance has ever seen him wearing.

He turned his head to look at him and Lance felt like someone held his heart with a hand outstretched in his open chest and squeezed it, yet it didn’t feel heavy; sun was kissing its way into his veins, not the other way around.

“You know, if you wanted me to strip off your clothes, all you had to do was ask.” Lance felt his face grew hotter, positive he was red again. He should probably be used to it by now.

“I swear I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Pity. That would have been one of your brighter moments.” Lance couldn’t help but let out a short laugh at that, shoving at Keith’s shoulder half-heartedly.

“You jerk.” _I like you._

They kissed again, this time lacking the urgency of the previous moments. Keith’s body warm against him, Lance’s blood pumped in a rhythm that was as of now long familiar to him. _I like you. I like you. I like you._

“Hey, Keith?”

“Mmm?” He mumbled without detaching his lips from the place where he was making his way up Lance’s jaw.

_I think I can take on the world with you by my side._ “Even if we don’t defeat the Galra and save the universe or whatever, I’m really glad it’s you I get to do this with…”

Keith didn’t ask what brought the words on because he knew, just put both of his arms around him and tightened the hold.

“I’m glad it’s you, too.”

Lance could taste the seemingly ever-present smile and he was so happy he wouldn’t mind stars starting collapsing on themselves around them. He hummed appreciatively and hid his face in the crook of Keith’s neck, nose nuzzling up against the soft skin there.

He still didn’t understand how they ended up in this moment but he was thankful to whatever force brought their lives together and spin them around each other so the eventual collision was impossible to prevent.

Keith’s thumbs made slow, circular motions on his back, drawing nonsensical patterns up and down his spine. Lance would never imagine it was so simple to find peace in the midst of war. But to Lance it seemed now Keith had always carried a small piece of home inside him even though Lance’s home was miles, thousands of light years away. He was centered and floating still, gentle waves lapping over his spread out hands, fingers reaching out to the early morning sky. Keith made him feel like he was enough, like he deserved to be a part of the other boy’s universe and Lance sometimes got dizzy with the knowledge he was being the point that centered Keith as well.

They weren’t at the beginning, they would carry on as they did before. Standing side by side, fighting with all they had in them. Only now, the pebble had been thrown and together they could shape the course of a tsunami because they let it land exactly where it was supposed to.

Lance was never letting go.

“I would follow you anywhere,” he whispered a dire confession into the boy’s collarbone and Lance felt it in his bones. He took everything that made him up, pushed it into his fist and pressed it against Keith’s hummingbird-like beating heart.

_(I’m in love with you.)_

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment or kudos, if you like ♡ I really do hope at least some of you enjoyed this.
> 
> You can come talk to me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/beethkay), I'm always ready to spill some more tears over these boys.


End file.
